Adoration, the feet on the brick
Original Marathi from the Tukaram Gatha · About Sant Tukaram
मराठी मूळ
पाउलें गोजिरीं । विटेवरी शोभलीं ॥1॥
संचिताचा ठेवा । जोडी हातीं लागली ॥ध्रु.॥
रूप डोिळयां आवडे । कीतिन श्रवणीं पवाडे ।
मस्तक नावडे । उठों पायांवरोनि ॥2॥
तुका ह्मणे नाम । ज्याचें नासी क्रोध काम ।
हरी भवश्रम । उच्चारितां वाचेसी ॥3॥
Tukaram Gatha (Marathi Wikisource)
English Translation
Those beautiful feet shine upon the brick. The treasure of our destiny has come into our hands. The form delights the eyes; the fame resounds in the ears. My head does not wish to rise from those feet. Says Tuka, His name destroys desire and anger; merely uttering it frees the tongue from all bondage.
We ask forgiveness for any inaccuracies in rendering Tukaram ji’s original Marathi.
In Plain Words
Those lovely feet shine upon the brick. The treasure stored up by my past deeds has come into my hands. The form delights my eyes; the fame fills my ears. My head will not rise from those feet. Tuka says: his name destroys anger and desire. Speak it with the tongue, and the weariness of the world is taken away.
What it means
Tukaram stands at Pandhari and sees Vitthal's feet set on the brick, and he calls this sight the treasure his whole past has been saving up for him. Every sense is filled: his eyes by the form, his ears by the fame, and his bowed head refuses to lift from the feet. He then names what the Name itself does: spoken aloud, it burns away anger and desire and lifts the exhaustion of worldly existence. The poem moves from the seen feet to the spoken Name, both pointing to the same release.
Devotion to Vitthal
Poems of praise, invocation, and intimate address to Lord Vitthal at Pandharpur.
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